by Bob Kravitz, USA TODAY Sports

by Bob Kravitz, USA TODAY Sports

For months now, they've been circling one another like two boxers with malicious intentions. For months now, the Pacers and Heat have eyed one another from afar, made off-season and in-season moves with a gaze toward their biggest post-season rival, all with a focus on Sunday's start of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Now, the Pacers get to decide: Are they good enough to reach the NBA Finals for the second time in the team's history, or are they fated to go down as noble spoils to the dynasty-driven Heat, like the Utah Jazz to Michael Jordan's Bulls?

This time will be different (wrote the guy who picked the Wizards in six).

This time the Pacers win the series, and do it in seven games.

Here, then, Seven Things The Pacers Must Do To Get The Job Done (Besides Keeping Tom Crean Away From Dwyane Wade):

â?¢ Protect home court

Since day one of training camp, the Pacers have talked about earning home-court advantage in a series just like this one. But in these weirdly inconsistent playoffs, they've gone just 3-4 at home while winning a franchise-high five road games.

They're not going to win two road games in Miami, the way they did in Atlanta.

They're not going to win three road games in Miami, the way they did in Washington.

They must be perfect, or very close to perfect, in a building where they went an NBA-best 35-6 this regular season. Maybe they can afford to drop one game, but that's the extent of it.

â?¢ Limit turnovers

Miami lives on pressure defense, which leads to transition points, usually involving LeBron James or Dwyane Wade.

In the Pacers' three victories in last year's Eastern Conference Finals, they committed 13, 12 and 18 turnovers. In the four losses, they committed 21, 17, 10 (an outlier) and 20 in Game 7, which included nine first-quarter turnovers.

A lot of the Pacers' success will be dictated by George Hill and, to a lesser extent, backup C.J. Watson. They will not have big statistics in this series, not with Miami consistently blitzing ball screens, but both men have to make smart, quick passes to initiate the offense. When the Pacers were successful last year, Hill made the right play and forced the Heat to rotate. When he didn't, the Heat were out and running with what David West called "touchdown turnovers."

â?¢ Stay engaged and emotionally level

This has been a thoroughly perplexing team for more than a month now. Their highs are stratospheric. Their lows are depressions worthy of medication. They got away with it against the Atlanta Hawks, and they played just enough inspired basketball, mostly on the road, to beat the Washington Wizards in six games.

There can't be that kind of emotional inconsistency against the best team in the world.

â?¢ Lance Stephenson has to be Good Lance all the time, and dispense with Bad Lance.

That means no choke signs. That means no bantering with officials. That means no yapping at the Heat bench. That means no hot-dogging and worrying about statistics.

Just ... play.

This is a huge series for Stephenson, a free agent who not only wants to get paid, but wants to show a wider audience what an electric (and not eclectic) player he can be. This can be his showcase, his stage. No nonsense, just basketball. Do that, and the cash will come, either from Larry Bird or somebody else.

â?¢ The bench has got to play the Heat bench even, at least.

Three years ago, Indiana's bench, led by Darren Collison and Leandro Barbosa, actually out-scored the Heat bench in the Pacers' 6-game series loss.

Last year, they got worked over.

And so far this post-season, the bench has been a hindrance. Watson and Ian Mahinmi have been solid, but Luis Scola (who needs to show up in this series) has been maddeningly inconsistent with his jumper and Evan Turner has continued to be a disappointing addition.

On paper, the Ray Allen-led Miami bench would seem to have a sizeable advantage over the Pacers. But, then, most of us thought the Pacers bench would get the best of the Wizards' octogenarian bench, and that didn't happen.

A couple of weeks ago, he was a national punchline. Now, he's got a chance to be the Pacers' biggest difference maker on the way to the NBA Finals.

He's the one player who has a clear matchup advantage in this series, at least on paper. There can't be any more of this showing up and then not showing up, with fishing trips thrown in-between. He needs to be present, active and engaged this entire series if the Pacers are going to overcome their nemesis the way the Colts did the New England Patriots in 2006.

He doesn't have to be great the way he was in last year's Eastern Conference Finals, but he's got to be good enough, averaging around 13-14 points, 7-10 rebounds and a couple of blocked shots. He, too, is playing with his future in doubt: If the Pacers come up short yet again, it wouldn't shock me if Bird tried to move him this off-season - if that's possible with his big contract.

The Heat would rather play the smaller lineup and keep Chris Bosh at the center spot, where he can make Hibbert chase him on the perimeter. It's up to Hibbert, then, to make Bosh and the Heat pay in the low post, where he's been so effective whenever the two teams have played.

â?¢ Make James work impossibly hard for everything he gets - and he's going to get his, without a question.

If he gets the usual 25-30 and a bunch of assists, fine. But he can't have those monster nights, and he especially can't have them in tandem with Wade, who looks fresh after taking so much time off this regular season.

How would you like to be Paul George? First series, he was switched onto the quicksilver Jeff Teague. Second series, he was switched onto sharp-shooting Bradley Beal. And now his prize is James, merely the best player in the world and a man playing at an all-time high level.

The Pacers have had success in the past when they've packed the paint and forced James and Wade shoot from the perimeter, and the same will remain true in this series. (Zone defense maybe? A little?) Oh, and this time, when the game comes down to a final Heat possession, Hibbert will be on the court and not on the bench. Yes, Frank, we remember.

"They taught us a lesson," a downcast Frank Vogel said after last year's Game 7 blowout loss in Miami. "They have been to the championship. They've won it all. And they know how to ratchet up their defense to a level that just imposes their will on a basketball game."

This Pacers' core group has been together four years now, challenged the Heat in the post-season twice now, taken them to the edge.

If not now, when?

Pacers in seven.

Bob Kravitz also writes for The Indianapolis Star, a Gannett affiliate.